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Montenegrin parliament elects new government with Markovic as PM

Xinhua, November 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Montenegrin parliament elected on Monday a new pro-European Union and NATO government presided by Prime Minister Dusko Markovic.

Dusko Markovic is the vice-president of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) which won 36 out of 81 parliament's seats at the elections on October 16.

On the live broadcast of Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG), the new government of Markovic was elected with a slim majority of 41 votes out of 81 members of parliament(MPs), while remaining MPs of the opposition parties were absent to protest against the results of the elections, which they claim there were irregularities.

The government, comprised of DPS and smaller partners Social Democrats, Bosniak Party, Croatian Citizen Initiative and Albanians Decisively, will have 19 ministries, with three ministers preforming the duty of deputy prime ministers, while there will be one additional minister without portfolio. Only three former ministers are in the new cabinet.

In his presentation of the program of the new government and its members, which was published by the Montenegrin government press office, Markovic noted the membership in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) before spring 2017 and accession negotiations with the European Union (EU) before the end of 2019 are key strategic priorities.

"The government that you are electing today will complete the country's process of integration into the (NATO) alliance. We expect that it will happen before spring. After that, the government will propose to the parliament immediately to confirm this process. The full membership will provide the country and its citizens with quality security system," Markovic estimated.

The situation in which the EU is today will not disrupt Montenegro's dedication "to become a part of the European community of states and nations that share the common idea of freedom and equality", he said.

"Government will do all in its power to mobilize capacities of the entire society for purpose of European integrations," he said, and explained that this is the reason why the new government will have a separate ministry for European Integrations with the plan to close all 35 chapters of negotiations by 2019.

He said that government will attract investors with an aim to achieve the annual economic growth of three to four percent, which will improve the living standards of citizens by creating new jobs and increasing their income. Enditem